The Monthly Visitor

No matter what nickname you give it, the fact is it happens and a lot of times happens too young. Why am I bringing this up? Well, I'll tell ya. My daughter is in 4th grade. The grade where they show "the movie". You remember "the movie" and the little goodie bag that you got afterward? Well, thank goodness they don't give out the goodie bag that you had to hide from boys anymore but they do still show the movie. When Tyler watched his movie (I went with him, whole other blog) I thought he might be too young. He took it well and life went on as usual. Well Ashley didn't wait to ask questions. I'd always kept her out of the bathroom at "that" time just so she wouldn't be alarmed but as soon as she could read the despensers in the public restrooms, questions came up. At first I gave her as little info as possible but last year I went to the gyno for a follow up and Ashley went with me. My doctor asked me how old Ashley was and then proceeded to tell me that she was quite developed for her age and that it was possible for her to start her period in as little as a year. WHAT??? It took a while for me to grasp that but I knew we needed to have the talk soon. I think it might have been a month later when we sat down and went over the basics and over time Ashley has asked more questions as they came up. Okay, now to the point of my story. Today I picked Ashley up at school and as soon as she gets in the car she says, "Guess who started her period today?" I must have had a frightened look on my face because she immediately said, "Oh, not me. I'm supposed to call you when that happens. It was Brittney." I don't know Brittney but she's in Ashley's class. So I asked what happened. The shorter version of the story is that Brittney went to the bathroom, screamed and was found in ther by a group of girls crying. I forgot to mention that Ashley has a male teacher. Anyway, Ashley ended up in the bathroom and seemed to be the only one of the group that could calmly tell her that she had started her period. She told her that her mom had said it would happen to all of them and it was just a part of growing up and then she suggested that Brittney go and talk to a female teacher. Good job Ashley and woo hoo for me too. I can't believe that none of the other girls had had the talk. I am so glad that it wasn't my daughter in the restroom thinking she was going to die. I feel bad for that little girl though. 10 years old and starting your period? Too much responsibility at such a young age. My doctor did tell us you can slow it's coming down by eating totally organic. They don't make organic chicken nuggets so we are totally out of luck! So the moral to my story is... Even though we may not think it is time to dicuss certain things with our kids, if they ask it's time. I may regret that statement as soon as I find out if the girl Tyler likes agreed to "go out with" him or not. He's asking her today.